Containers for electroplating baths

ABSTRACT

A container for an electroplating bath which is to be oscillated in use. The container has walls with openings therein and the openings and/or the inner and/or outer surfaces of at least one wall provides a greater resistance to fluid in one direction than in the other during oscillation.

nited States Patent 1191 Strecke Oct. 29, 1974 [541 CONTAINERS FOR ELECTROPLATHNG 870,545 11/1907 Clough .1 204/222 BATHS 1,502,942 7/1924 3 2,956,943 10/1960 lnventori Heinz Strecke, Lmdenbaumstrasse 3,294,663 12/1966 Lazaro 259/89 13, 565 Solingen, Germany [22] Filed: May 4, 1972 Primary Examiner-Robert W. Jenkins pp NO 250 172 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Holman & Stern 52 U S Cl 259 75 204 222 [57] ABSTRACT lSll Irit Cl 1301f /9/02 A container for an electroplating bath which is to be [58] Field 13 2O oscillated in use. The container has walls with open- /81 5 7 ings therein and the openings and/or the inner and/0r outer surfaces of at least one wall provides a greater [56] References Cited resistance to fluid in one direction than in the other UNITED STATES PATENTS dmng oscuatm' 364,723 6/1887 Miller 259 100 2 Clalms, 18 Drawmg Flgures PAIENYEUnm 29 1974 sum 1 or 6 3844'542 Fig. 2

PMENTEUBCT 29 191 I 3. 44542 4 SHEET 5 BF 6 1 CONTAINERS FOR ELECTROPLATING BATIIS The invention relates to containers for receiving articles which are to be treated in electroplating baths.

In order to treat a number of small articles in an electroplating bath, it has been previously proposed to place the articles in a closed drum which rotates in the electroplating bath. A drum is-not convenient for carrying out the electroplating process automatically because the drum has to be opened and closed by hand for loading and unloading respectively. In order to avoid this disadvantage, it has been previously proposed to use open containers which are oscillated in the electroplating bath. With an oscillating movement of this kind, the articles which are to be treated are not rolled around sufficiently and the electroplating bath is not agitated thoroughly enough.

It has also been proposed with such open containers to transport these from bath to bath by means of lifting equipment. This is particularly uneconomical if the containers have only to be conveyed from one bath to an adjoining bath.

According to the present invention there is provided an open container for receiving articles to be treated in an electroplating bath, which container is adapted to be oscillated and has walls provided with openings therein, the openings and/or the inner and/or outer surface of at least one wall being so arranged as .to present a greater resistance to fluid inone direction than in the other during oscillating movement of the container in use.

Preferably, at least one wall of the container is shaped in such a way that when a large number of small articles to be treated are placed in the container, the articles tend to move towards the wall preferably-in one direction.

In addition, at least one wall may have one or more saw-tooth projections. The container may be shaped asymmetrically in its plane of movement. Moreover, at least one wall may have-flaps attached which straighten out against the flow. At least part of the openings or gap may be nozzle-shaped. In addition, the container may have projections provided with nozzle-shaped openings.

Conveniently, at least some of the nozzle-shaped openings lie in planes which extend through the axis of oscillatory movement of the container.

One wall of the container which lies in a plane parallel to the axis of movement may be higher than the opposing wall. At the same time, the higher wall can be extended in such a way that when the container is tilted it extends over an adjacent container so that articles in the container can pass into the adjacent container. At the same time, it is convenient if the container can be oscillated aboutthe axis of tilt.

The higher wall may be arranged in such a way that when the container is in its central position it projects above a surface of the bath and when the container is in at least one other position, itis immersed fully in the bath.

As an alternative, the invention proposes that both walls of the container which are parallel to the axis of movement, are arranged in such a way that when the container is in a centre position they project above a surface of thebath and one wall, when the container is in at least one other position, is fully immersed in the bath.

A further advantage is seen in the fact that the openings are made up of interstitial material, e. g., cloth.

In a further embodiment, the container can be oscillated by means of adevice, preferably a drive pulley, which has an adjustable lift.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a container according to the present invention in an electroplating bath, a projection on said container being formed by the wall of the container;

FIG. 2 shows a container according to the present invention in which a projection thereon is formed by an inserted wedge;

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4 A-H show containers according to the present invention of varying shapes;

FIG. 5 shows a container according to the present invention with several large projections;

FIG. 6 shows a container according to the present invention with a number of small projections;

FIG. 7 shows a container according to the present invention with nozzle-shaped openings;

FIG. 8 shows a container according to the present invention with projections in which nozzle-shaped openings are arranged;

FIG. 9 shows a number of containers according to the present invention, each of which has one particularly long side-wall through which the articles can be conveyed into the adjoining container;

FIG. 10 shows one of the containers of FIG. 9 in greater detail; and

FIG. 11 is a side view of the container shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 1, a container 4 is immersed at least partially, in this embodiment completely, in an electroplating bath contained by a tank I. There is also disposed in the tank 1, an anode 2 and,if necessary, an additional anode 3. The container 4 has walls 9 which are broken by several openings (not shown in FIG. I) and a cathode 6 which is secured toa saw-tooth projection 8 formed by part of the wall 9. By the term a sawtooth projection is meant a projection having one side the angle of which is steeper relative to the surface of the wall than the other so that the steeper side forms a greater resistance both for flow of bath liquid and for the movement of articles which are to be treated.

The container 4 is oscillated about an axis 5 by a motor by means of a linkage 11 (FIG. 2) and a drive pulley 12 with an adjustable lift. Due to the oscillating movement, the projection 8 in FIG. 1 causes both the bath liquid and the articles to be treated to be circulated inside the container 4. Since the projection 8 in FIG. 1 also forms a projection in the outer wall of the container 4, the bath Iiquid'is also caused to circulate outside the container 4.

It is also possible to achieve a circulating effect in container 4 (see FIG. 2) by disposing a wedge 16 in the container 4 to define the projection 8.

A circulation inside and outside the container 4 can be achieved by shaping the container 4 asymmetrically in the plane of movement (FIGS. 48, C,D,E and F) as well as by using a saw-tooth projection (see FIGS. 4A, D,G, and H). Furthermore, by extending one wall of the container 15 which is parallel to the'axis of movement, the bath fluid can be made to circulate more vigorously, for instance, when an extended wall 15 projects out over the surface of the bath 7 when the container 4 is in its central position and when the container is in another position it is fully immersed in the bath. in this way, the extended wall enhances the circulation.

In addition, it is also possible for the container 4 to have several projections 8 (see FIG. 5 and PK]. 6) or to have nozzle-shaped openings 13 or a gap (FIG. 7). These nozzle-shaped openings 13 bring about a particularly strong turning movement when they are made in walls of the container which displace a particularly large amount of fluid during oscillation of the container. Such walls are, in particular, those walls which lie in planes extending through the axis 5 of movement of the container.

It is also possible to increase the circulation of the fluid in the bath by means of nozzle-shaped openings 13 which are formed in projecting parts 14 of the container (FIG. 8).

In an alternative embodiment of the container 4 (FIG. 9), the axis 5 of movement of the container is disposed along an extended wall thereof whereby the container 4 not only performs oscillatory movements about this axis 5 of movement but is also able to be tilted about this axis 5 so that the contents of the container can be emptied out into the adjoining container 17. Because of this the container does not have to be lifted out of the bath by lifting means when the contents of the container are to be conveyed from one container to the next. It can however be convenient to construct the containers so that they can also be lifted up by a lifting device (not shown) so that baths can be by-passed. It would however also be possible to by-pass one or two baths, without lifting means being used, but by a chute being placed over the baths which are to be by-passed,

through which the articles to be treated could slide.

What I claim is:

l. A container and means for oscillating said container, said container being provided with walls having openings for receiving articles to be treated in electroplating baths and being positioned parallel to the plane containing the axis of oscillatory movements, said walls being further provided with at least one saw-toothed projection which projects forward toward one of the circulating directions of the articles, the container walls being asymmetrically shaped relative to the plane containing the axis of movement of the container, oppositely positioned sections of thecontainer walls being positioned parallel to the plane containing the axis of oscillatory movement, said axis being located in the center position of the container, and wherein one section of the walls is higher than the opposite section.

2. A container and means for oscillating said container, said container being provided with walls having openings for receiving articles to be treated in electroplating baths and being positioned parallel to the plane containing the axis of oscillatory movements, said walls being further provided with at least one saw-toothed projection which projects forward toward one of the circulating directions of the articles, oppositely positioned sections of the container walls being positioned parallel to the plane containing the axis of oscillatory movement, one section of the walls being higher than the opposite section, said axis being disposed along said higher section of the walls, and wherein said higher section of the walls is shaped as a sloping plane, over which the articles can be tilted to pass into the adjacent container.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. 3,844,542

DATED October 29, 1974 |NVENTOR(S) Heinz Strecke It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

[30] Foreign Priority Data:

German No. P21 22 555.8 filed May 7, 1971 Qignc i and sealed this 15th clay of April 1175.

.'-.tte:;tin5 Effie-er and Trademarks 

1. A container and means for oscillating said container, said container being provided with walls having openings for receiving articles to be treated in electroplating baths and being positioned parallel to the plane containing the axis of oscillatory movements, said walls being further provided with at least one saw-toothed projection which projects forward toward one of the circulating directions of the articles, the container walls being asymmetrically shaped relative to the plane containing the axis of movement of the container, oppositely positioned sections of the container walls being positioned parallel to the plane containing the axis of oscillatory movement, said axis being located in the center position of the container, and wherein one section of the walls is higher than the opposite section.
 2. A container and means for oscillating said container, said container being provided with walls having openings for receiving articles to be treated in electroplating baths and being positioned parallel to the plane containing the axis of oscillatory movements, said walls being further provided with at least one saw-toothed projection which projects forward toward one of the circulating directions of the articles, oppositely positioned sections of the container walls being positioned parallel to the plane containing the axis of oscillatory movement, one section of the walls being higher than the opposite section, said axis being disposed along said higher section of the walls, and wherein said higher section of the walls is shaped as a sloping plane, over which the articles can be tilted to pass into the adjacent container. 